Fifty years ago, on April 21, 1967, the Manteca High track team won two meets on consecutive days with impressive wins over St. Mary’s High of Stockton and Encina High of Sacramento. The Buffaloes easily handled St. Mary’s at Manteca Thursday, winning every event except one. Mel Montanio and Steve Mendosa each copped two events. They also took two events each in the Encina meet. Montanio set a new school record in the long jump with a 22-1.25 effort. Mendosa indicated he may be reaching his potential despite the rainy weather, running his best 100 yards in :10.1 and 220 in :23.8. Other outstanding performances for Coach Alex Henderson’s Buffs included John Boggs’ two-mile win in 9:55.6 and Bud Travaille’s 6-3 high jump win.
In other sports stories
from the Bulletin files:
80 years ago: April 22, 1937 – Becoming recognized over the northern part of the state as a hard-hitting middleweight, Tillie Delnero of Manteca has been signed for an appearance in San Francisco next Monday night. Jimmie Delnero, brother of Tillie, is also coming to the front. He is a heavyweight.
70 years ago: April 24, 1947 – Manteca High was defeated by Oakdale High by a score of 6-5 last Friday afternoon in Oakdale. Curt Patterson scored four of the Buffalo runs and Jack Williams hit a home run for the other.
60 years ago: April 25, 1957 – Don Dunbar, Manteca High swimmer, holds the school record for the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:23.4.
40 years ago: April 20, 1977 – In the VOL tennis race, the Manteca High net men defeated East Union High Friday afternoon at the MHS courts, 13-2. Coached by Alex Henderson, the Buffaloes were led by Javier Castillo and Lee Griffen in singles play, and by both doubles teams consisting of Randy Adair/Jim Bylow and Jeff Brock/Paul Moore. The Lancer wins were by Preston Tanaka and Ron McKinney.
Falling victim to one of the perennially strong track teams in the valley last Thursday, Manteca High was beaten at Oakdale High 102-34. The Buffaloes were able to place first in only two events, both coming from Gonzalo Aguilar. On the other side of the coin, the girls’ team won 60-49, keeping its undefeated string still alive. Lori Watson again tripled, with firsts in the shot put, discus and 110 low hurdles. Sally Hoffman broke a school record in the high jump with a leap of 4-8.
Manteca High turned a foul pop out into two runs in the seventh inning Friday, good for a 4-3 upset baseball win over East Union High. Pete Duenas tagged up and scored after Darrell Womack’s pop-up was caught and Rick Hogan scored all the way from second when the throw got away from EU catcher Mark Faria.
Paul Azevedo’s 39 wasn’t good enough as Manteca High’s golf team was beaten 199-207 by Sonora High last Tuesday.
East Union High took a 197-221 golf win from Los Banos High last Tuesday afternoon. Junior Randy Shepherd fired a 36 to lead the Lancers.
The East Union High girls’ track team, defending VOL champs, beat St. Mary’s High 55-53 last week. Junior Cathy Elliott turned in firsts in the high jump and long jump, while senior sprinter Irene Tokunaga continued her fine season with firsts in the 100 and 220. She also ran one of the legs on the Lancers’ winning 440 relay team.
The EU boys beat Ceres High, as Jeff Von Essen was clocked at 52 flat, a school record, while winning the 440. Wade Hensley also put his name in the EU record book with a time of 40.9 in the 330 low hurdles.
30 years ago: April 19, 1987 – Despite coping with vicious weather, Manteca’s state golf champion Kevin Wentworth never seemed bothered, slicing a one-under-par 33 to lead Manteca High to a decisive 199-209 win over Carson High in Carson City, capping the Buffaloes’ weekend swing in Nevada. The match, held at Eagle Valley Municipal golf course, was halted after nine holes, due to flurries of wind, hail and snow.
East Union High grabbed a come-from-behind 5-4 baseball victory Tuesday over host Los Banos High. Mike Gase had two hits for the 12-4 Lancers.
Kevin Wentworth, one of the finest all-around athletes ever to perform at Manteca High, will be taking his prolific golf skills to Oklahoma State University next fall. Wentworth signed his letter of intent April 9 after narrowing his choices down to OSU and Stanford.
Good defense always prevails and East Union High proved the point Tuesday in a 5-1 softball triumph over Los Banos High at the Northgate Complex. Karrie Woodard collected a pair of hits for the Lady Lancers.
After a slow start Tuesday, Manteca High’s softball team rolled up 14 runs in four innings to dump host Central Catholic High of Modesto 14-1 in a league contest. Brooke Rose had two hits and a pair of runs batted in, while Kelly Swift added two walks and three runs scored.
The East Union High girls’ track team, behind a four-event win by freshman Trina Dutcher, captured its first VOL win by edging Sonora High 64-59 Wednesday. The boys remained winless in league action, dropping a 94-41 decision. Dutcher garnered wins in the high jump (4-8), 200 (29.2), led the 440 relay team and took the 100 meters in 13.6. David Lotman was a double winner for the boys in the 400 and 300 low hurdles, as was John Fletcher in the 100 (11.75) and the 200 (24.32).
The Manteca High girls’ tracksters dislodged the Oakdale High girls 72-55 last Thursday, but the boys lost to OHS by a 75-61 count. Amanda Dias led the Lady Buffs with wins in the 400 (1:04.64), the 300 low hurdles (49.85) and the 200 (27.68). For the boys, sophomore Heath Hitzman came through with wins in the 100 and 200 meter sprints in times of 11.44 and 23.82. Another double winner was Mike Housden in the 800 (2:06.67) and the triple jump (40-1.5).
Scott Heaton answered the call in the second inning and constantly hung up the phone on Manteca High, powering East Union High in a thrilling come-from-behind 7-6 league baseball win at the MHS field Friday. Steve Messersmith’s RBI single past a drawn-in infield proved to be the game winner. Heaton’s performance—he allowed two hits while striking out six—lit the fire for the Lancers.
Manteca High swept through singles play while East Union High split doubles as the Buffaloes took a 12-3 tennis victory over the rival Lancers on their home court Friday. MHS’s Eddie Hubik, Stephen Sanguinetti and Eric Reis dropped just nine points in winning all the sets played. EU’s Steve Valdez and Brian Wadford took two wins.
20 years ago: April 23, 1997 – East Union High scored six runs in the first three innings to defeat Merrill West High 7-3 to pick up their 13th softball win of the season yesterday. The Lady Lancers were led by the effort of Katie Tribuzio, who stroked a two-run single in the third inning and finished 2-for-2 with three RBI.
The Sierra High softball team ended an eight-game losing streak Thursday by taking a 6-4 win over West High. Natasha James tripled and Tara Tengco doubled to pace the Lady T’wolves.
East Union High pulled into a first-place tie in the VOL baseball race with a 5-1 win over Sonora High yesterday. Doug Callaway and Don Gemmell combined on a three-hitter for the Lancer victory. Catcher Chad Hagglund cracked a homer and a double, with three RBI for EU.
Sierra High remained atop the VOL baseball standings by walloping Tracy High 18-0 yesterday. The T’wolves erupted for a school-record 22 hits in the win. John Thomson scattered five hits, striking out four and not walking a batter in pitching the win. At the plate, he was a perfect five-for-five. Danny Almeida smacked a grand-slam home run and batted in six runs in the game. Jared Looney added a home run and a double for Sierra.
Paced by the performance of Scott Conner, Sierra High’s number one singles player, the T’wolf netters defeated city rival Manteca High 9-6 on Wednesday. Conner had three wins on the afternoon. SHS Coach Eric Reis said that performance set the tone for the meet.
Adondus Foster set a new school record and both he and teammate Justin Miller took three events as Manteca High took a 95-40 track win over East Union High on a blustery Thursday afternoon at Guss Schmiedt Field. Foster went 43-6 in the triple jump to set a new mark and win the event by six feet. Foster also took the long jump (19-8.75) and 200 meters (24.5). Miller, meanwhile, ran to a win in the 100 (12.18) to go with his infield wins in the high jump (5-10) and pole vault (12-6). The Lady Buffs beat West 76-51 as Sandra Moore and Courtney Geter were double winners. Moore claimed the 100 lows (29.8) and high jump (4-0), while Geter topped the 400 (1:12.7) and the 300 lows (58.0).
Sierra High’s Monica Pires set a new school record in the girls’ triple jump with a leap of 35-7 as the Lady T’wolves beat Oakdale High’s track team 84-51 to remain undefeated at 5-0. The Sierra boy s overwhelmed Oakdale 108-27 to maintain their perfect record. Antonio Lewis won three events (TJ, 300 IH and the 110 HH) for Coach Greg Leland’s team.
East Union High senior Jessie Hardcastle broke a two-year-old school mark in the discus with a toss of 131-3 as the Lady Lancers beat Tracy High 85-51. Hardcastle also won the shot put at 34-0. The other Lady Lancer with two wins was Laura Dukas in the 1600 (5:57) and the 3200 (14:38). The Lancer boys managed just three individual wins as they dropped an 80-49 decision to the Bulldogs.
All three city swim teams had plenty to smile about but the East Union High girls took home the bulk of the hardware at the VOL championships in Los Banos on Friday afternoon. The Lady Lancers, who went unbeaten in the regular season, won the league crown with 97 points—a whopping 58-point margin over runner-up Manteca High and Tracy High. Leading the double winners was Sierra High’s Alicia Lowry. The junior captured the 100 butterfly in a new VOL record of 1:03.52 and the 200 freestyle races. EU’s Silke Bradford repeated as VOL sprint champion, claiming both the 50 free (26.04) and the 100 free (57.78). Manteca High senior Becky Pendexter stroked to victories in both the 200 IM (2:30.56) and the 100 breast (1:17.24).
Fireworks occurred both during and after Manteca High’s dramatic come-from-behind 14-13 baseball win over visiting Los Banos High yesterday. Following Tom Tuggle’s bases-loaded single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game, parents and players got into a post-game scuffle with punches being thrown.
10 years ago: April 25, 2007 – The unbeatable Manteca High tennis team rolled through yet another 15-0 win Tuesday, this time over the visiting Hawks of Central Valley High. Mostafa and Yaseen Aniss and Gabe Lopez had little trouble dispatching their opponents in singles action, while the doubles teams of Belo Lopez-Ellis/Juan Lugo and Joey Aprille/David Shaefer did the same to their opponents.
Rochelle Sellers singled and then Kim Brooks’ intended bunt turned into a three-base throwing error by the Sonora High infield that scored Sellers with the only run of the game in a 1-0 East Union High win over the visiting Wildcats in VOL softball action yesterday. The Lancers’ junior pitcher Erin Arevalo struck out 16 batters while not walking a batter in hurling a one-hitter.
The East Union High golf team had one of its more impressive rounds all season Tuesday in their VOL finale against host Weston Ranch High, winning 192-281 at Van Buskirk Park in Stockton. Richard Phillips continued his impressive play with an even-par 36 for EU.
The Manteca High softball team relied on small ball and a phenomenal pitching performance from Marissa Cuellar to shake up the VOL race with a stunning 1-0 win over Ceres High. Cuellar gave up only one hit in the game. Marissa Navarro knocked in the game’s only run in the fourth inning when she scored Heather Bosch from second. Bernadette May went 3-for-3 on the day.
East Union High won its final home soccer game of the regular season with a 6-0 shutout of Central Valley High at Cunial Field on Tuesday. Ashley McGuiness netted two goals, while Lauren Aguiar, Kylie Dalton, Kelly Mayo and Amber Omstead each scored once.
Megan Anderson’s two-out grand-slam in the first inning provided Sierra High just the boost they needed in a much-needed 5-3 softball victory over visiting rival Manteca High Friday.
